Timeline
by Deliamon
Summary: One so called "Muggle" Contest. One mysterious Prophecy buried in the Department of Mysteries. One Million Dollars. And only One Survivor. Welcome to Timeline! GW-OCC, DM-HG, RW-LL HP-OCC Mystery and romance! Will be BIG RR NOW!
1. Prologue: The Prophecy

THE PROPHECY

(C.T to B.D)

The Kingdom of Him is all around you

And Inside You

Split a piece of cloth, and you will find Me

Among the Twelve Youths -- all six-ten,

Does the world's state do future send.

Eleven of the Lightest Light,

One of the Darkest Night.

One truly pure, not understood;

Second evil, seen as Good

Third suffered three times the level,

Fourth blessed with gold man's revel.

Fifth hidden beyond the blood,

Sixth knows last, but treats like mud.

Seventh takes pride in her plentious looks,

Eighth values her quill and books

Ninth is a seeker, going for the Sight

Tenth is a gel-snip, up to the Fight

Eleventh is satisfied with her present

Twelfth struggling away from the Future.

All help; together, as a circle, as a bubble

If burst will bring Him back from the rubble.

(A/N: Basically it's up to twelve people – including Harry Potter – to help save the world from Voldemort's wrath. I know it doesn't make much sense now, as to who's who -- but the entire story revolves over this prophecy)


	2. I: Letters and News

_A/N: DISCLAIMER: I got the contest/show idea from the Muggle novel: 24/7 by Jim Brown. You really should read it – after I'm done this story. :) All the characters with magic blood are figments of J.K Rowling's imagination. All the other characters are mine – except for Dana, who starred as a poor working mother in 24/7. Enjoy!_

**__**

**__**

**_HOGWARTS STUDENT: HARRY JAMES POTTER_**

Harry Potter hated Severus Snape.

That wasn't anything new in the least... he had despised the nasty professor since he had first entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

At least Lupin was back as the DADA professor. The parents of the Hogwarts students had finally realized that Voldemort was back. They had immediately decided that Dumbledore was a sort of idol– and everything he said – now was completely true. They were treating Dumbledore as he deserved to be treated, as a hero. And when Dumbledore invited Lupin back to Hogwarts – well there were some complaints, no question of it. Some adults thought that werewolves were closely associated with the general evil. But most trusted the "valiant Dumbledore"

Harry stared at the window, and watched the rain pound against it. And suddenly... in the pitch black darkness – well, there was a flash of white.

Harry quickly opened his window. Apparently, the sender of the unfamiliar snowy-white owl didn't want his owl to go to the Owlery. Strange, but not unusual. Perhaps the letter was private. He opened the large beige envelope, to find a sheet of legal white Muggle paper, as well as several letter-sized coloured sheets.

He looked at the white one first.

_Dear Mr. Potter. You have been selected as one of the twelve contestants to compete in Timeline. Please report to the contestant box on __343 Sixty Second Street__,  (__New York City__) on July 12th. Your co-operation is appreciated. Please refer to the enclosed coloured sheets, for more information on this adventure._

Thoroughly mystified, he turned to the pink sheet

_Welcome to the adventure of Timeline! You have been selected out of the millions of 16 year olds in __Europe__ and __North America__, to have a chance to win 1 million American dollars, as well as your hearts desire._

One Million Dollars. What was that – a couple hundred thousand galleons?

Harry's eyes widened in wonder. And his hearts desire...

Harry James Potter's heart's desire was for Voldemort to be killed. Gone. Forever. The prophecy... if Harry won this stupid contest, and if he got his... heart's desire, would that suffice for the prophecy?

Probably.

And for the first time after Sirius's death, Harry James Potter gave a wide grin.

****

**_TIMELINE ENTRY FORM_**

_NAME_: HARRY JAMES POTTER

_AGE_: 16

_OCCUPATION_: STUDENT AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

_SEX:_ MALE

_CITY_: NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND.

_WORST FEARS_: VOLDEMORT, DEMENTORS

_HEART'S DESIRE_: FOR VOLDEMORT TO DIE AND BE DEAD FOREVER; FOR ALL HIS SUPPORTERS TO BE LOCKED UP IN AZKHABAN, AND FOR THEM NEVER TO ESCAPE.

_PARENTS_: JAMES AND LILY POTTER

_GUARDIANS (IF NOT PARENTS_): VERNON AND PETUNIA DURSLEY, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

_BIRTHDATE_: JULY 31st 1987

_SIBLINGS_: NONE.

_PHONE NUMBER_: CAN'T REMEMBER.

_MEDICAL CONDITIONS_: NONE.

--- ---- ---- -- ---- -----------------

**_HOGWARTS STUDENT: RON BILIUS WEASLEY_**

**__**

            Ron Weasley muttered in his sleep. "Seventy sixty.... Gryffindor... and keeper Ron W... hero for the day."

            There was a clap of thunder.

            Ron Weasley's eyes popped open. He sat up instantly, looked around, and then sighed. He would never go to sleep _now. _He looked at the second-hand watch that Molly had given him. Three o' clock in the morning. Damn.

He opened the hangings, and then realized that his best friend, Harry Potter, was also awake.

            "Harry? Harry?" He saw a figure by the window.

            "Harry!"

            His friend gasped, and then relaxed once he saw the red-head.

            "You scared me Ron."

            "Sorry mate."

            There was a tap at the window. Both boys turned and saw another owl, this time brown, knocking on the window.

            "Poor little guy, let's take him inside."

            The boys hurriedly opened the window to the small brown owl, who flew in with an air of relief. Ron took the owl's beige envelope while muttering "Wonder why he didn't go to the Owlery."

            To Harry's shock, Ron pulled out a legal white sheet of Muggle paper, as well as a pink and blue one.

            "Strange. Me – getting mail from Muggles?"

            Ron's eyebrows went up as he read the white paper.

            "Read this one now..." said Harry. Harry didn't want to read it... he didn't want to believe that he'd have to compete against his _very best_ friend...

            Ron wordlessly nodded, and Harry carefully examined Ron's face as he read the pink paper. Ron had suddenly dropped his letter.

            "H-Harry, h-how much is a million US dollars?"

            Harry's heart sank. "Round a couple hundred thousand galleons."

            Ron's eyes closed for a few seconds. Harry knew what was passing through his best friend's heart. And when "Ronnie's" eyes opened again... they were different. Ron Weasley's eyes were void of their innocent and caring look. They were replaced by greed, shameless absolute greed.

            "Harry."

            Harry couldn't stand it anymore. He wordlessly reached into his pocket and pulled an identical opened envelope with pink, blue and white papers just peeking over the edge.

            Ron stared in horror.

            "No...."

            Harry nodded.

            "No!"

            You see, when Ron Weasley was reading that pink sheet of paper, when he had realized that he could win one hundred thousand galleons, he had imagined all sorts of wealth; beautiful Weasley mansions, having pocketfuls of Galleons for Hogsmeade... all sorts of fantasies.

            And he had just found out that the saviour and hero of the Wizarding world... the guy who had dueled with Voldemort...  the boy who had single-handedly fought off a hundred Dementors... the guy who was his best friend... was going to competing against him – well lets just say that little Ronniekins "freaked out". He felt like killing Harry. But Ron still had a tiny bit of sanity left, and instead, he ran to his bed and closed the hangings.

            Sorrowfully, Harry also returned to his bed.

            Their friendship – which had been untouchable in the Daily Prophet Scandal and in front of Voldemort – was now in ruins.

**_TIMELINE ENTRY FORM_**

_NAME_: RON BILIUS WEASLEY

_AGE_: 16

_OCCUPATION_: STUDENT AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

_SEX:_ MALE

_CITY_: NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND.

_WORST FEARS_: SPIDERS

_HEART'S DESIRE_: TO BE RICH.

_PARENTS_:  MOLLY AND ARTHUR WEASLEY

_GUARDIANS (IF NOT PARENTS_): WHO DO YOU THINK I AM – HARRY POTTER?

_BIRTHDATE_: OCTOBER 25TH  1987

_SIBLINGS_: BILL, CHARLIE, PERCY, FRED, GEORGE, GINNY.

_PHONE NUMBER_: WHAT'S A PHONE?

_MEDICAL CONDITIONS_: NONE.

--- ---- ---- -- ---- -----------------

**_HOGWARTS STUDENT: DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY. _**

**__**

Meanwhile, Draco Lucius Malfoy was performing the most un-manly thing in the universe.

He was writing in a diary. Lucius had encouraged him to write in a "Journal" about the things he did against Muggles every day. Instead, the rebellious Malfoy had done the exact opposite thing, called his book a 'Diary', and decided to write his real thoughts in it.

Sure, he hated Muggles. Maybe it was because they were so helpless. Maybe it was because Lucius had droned to him a million times about it since he was two.... he didn't know.

What he did know for certain was that he would never, ever, go down so low to work for _filth_ like Voldemort.

He would never become a Death Eater – not willingly at least. But he would never become so stupid to tell Lucius that. Lucius would amputate both his arms and legs, perform the Repairing curse, and then amputate them again.

Not exactly the greatest thing to go through. So Draco Malfoy was careful to appear devoted to the Dark Side in front of the Hogwarts students.

It was too much of a risk not to.

Draco frowned. An owl was by his window... that was rather out of order. Father usually sent his owls to the Owlery. The owls usually brought a series of gifts, so that the students of Hogwarts would assure themselves that the Malfoys were very wealthy... None of the gifts were demonstrations of love – more like demonstrations of wealth. He shrugged, and opened the window. The owl dropped his envelope and left.

He opened the envelope. Muggle Paper._ Muggle paper. _What kind of filthy _moron_ Muggle would ever use an owl to mail him? Muggles didn't know about owls. Perhaps the sender was a wizard, who'd ran out of regular parchment and used Muggle paper instead..

Curiosity took over the blond boy, and he read the white sheet. This had to be a joke. New York? He hadn't been to New York since Narcissa had visited her relatives. He had been about five years old.

He read the pink sheet next. So it was a Muggle contest. A stupid, idiotic, Muggle contest. But the phrase 'one million dollars' stuck in his head.

How much was a million dollars?

_Library.___

The library would have information about Muggles – and Muggle currency.

--- ---- ---- -- ---- -----------------

            **_HOGWARTS STUDENT:  HERMIONE ANNE GRANGER_**

Hermione Anne Granger stared determinedly at the Ancient Runes textbook. The essay, she had to finish the essay...

It wasn't as if she was procrastinating. Far from it. She had stayed up until one (at least) every day since the Easter Break. She was just taking too many courses, almost twice as much as her friends Ron and Harry... Naturally, they couldn't see the _point _of talking Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes, or _even _Arthimacy! But the courses were all so _interesting _so annoying appealing, that she had to take all of them.

Sighing, Hermione stared at the common room fire. The common room was empty of course; all the _sane_ students had gone to bed. Suddenly, she remembered her mother.

"If you're tired... and you want to do more work, take a stroll. Physical fitness will always help you, even if it's a walk for ten minutes..." 

A walk for ten minutes... well she could do just that.  First to the kitchen... and then to the library (naturally).

"Hello miss!"

It was Dobby. She could see the other house elves hiding behind the corner; no doubt they were afraid she'd bring up SPEW again...

"It's okay... I'm too tired to convince them... May I have some ice cream Dobby!"

"Yes miss!" He saluted her (of all things!), and then brought up a huge chocolate ice cream sundae.

"Thank you Dobby."

After that, she decided to research her essay at the Library. The professor had agreed that they could do their essay on Muggle Ancient Runes as well... She trudged to the Muggle section, and received the greatest shock –

Draco Malfoy was sitting, cross-legged, in the Muggle section – intently reading a Muggle book.

"Ahem." He jumped, and displayed a fleeting look of fear. He quickly remembered to sneer.

"Why it's the Mudblood. Out of bed. What are you doing here, trying to get your Potions grade up? I assure you that Muggle Potions are non-existent... why don't you keep on walking?"

Her face darkened, remembering that she had got a horrible E in Potions because of Snape's attitude towards the Gryffindors. Draco had proudly displayed his O.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you. What are you doing in the Muggle section anyway?"

"None of your damn business." He stood up and walked towards her, glaring. "Move it Mudblood. You're blocking the way."

"Not until you tell me what--"

"_Wingardium__ Leviosa!_"

"Hey!" Draco had levitated her, and moved her to the right.

_"Finite Incaetism!"_  she called, and she was placed on the ground again.

Draco smirked, and left, book in hand.

"Not so fast Mr. Malfoy," Hermione whispered. She was going to use a spell that no one knew about, not even Professor Dumbledore. She had somehow made the spell, just as Voldemort had invented_ Morsemordre. _

_"Libranium Recordia!" _A book, that was made up of the same thing as ghost flesh, appeared in the air in front of her. It was a record of all the books that had left the Library. It was listed according to date, beginning with the most recent ones, and ending with Rowena Ravenclaw.

She traced the name at the very top. "Draco Malfoy. Slytherin. June 15, 2004. Book: Muggle Currency."

Muggle Currency? _Muggle__ Currency! _Why on earth would The Draco Malfoy want to know about _Muggle__ Currency?_ Shrugging, she went to the common room, finished the essay in an hour, and went to the girls dorm, thinking:

_...muggle currency..._

--- ---- ---- -- ---- -----------------

**_DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY. _**

One million dollars was equivalent to five hundred thousand galleons.

His family currently only possessed around two hundred thousand galleons.

He would own more than two times as much. He would see the expression on his idiot father's face... when he bought the manor, and kicked his father out...

Now for the actual contest.

_NAME_: DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY

_AGE_: 16

_OCCUPATION_: STUDENT AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

_SEX:_ YES PLEASE MALE

_CITY_: NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND.

_WORST FEARS_: VOLDEMORT

_HEART'S DESIRE_: FOR VOLDEMORT TO DISAPPEAR FOREVER; FOR FATHER TO BE IN AZKHABAN; FOR ME TO BEAT HARRY POTTER AT QUIDDITCH.

_PARENTS_:  LUCIUS AND NARCISSA MALFOY.

_GUARDIANS (IF NOT PARENTS_): WHAT THE HELL?

_BIRTHDATE_: OCTOBER 4th 2004

_SIBLINGS_: NOPE. 

_PHONE NUMBER_: HUH?

_MEDICAL CONDITIONS_: NONE.

--- ---- ---- -- ---- -----------------

**_HERMIONE ANNE GRANGER_**

 

Hermione Granger had finally finished her Ancient Runes essay. She had done poorly, she admitted. She must have spelt a word or two wrong in the five feet of cramped up writing.

She blamed her lack of concentration on the thought of Malfoy and his Muggle Currency book. Perhaps he was thinking about illegally trading with the Mafia. Yes that had to be it. But he hated Muggles...

She headed to bed, and saw an owl pecking at her window. It was a beautiful owl, and she was happy that the rain had cleared off. If the storm was still present, the poor owl would have drowned. She was a little puzzled why the owl didn't go to the Owlery. But she opened the window anyways, and took the envelope from its beak.

It was a sort of beige colour... and when she opened it, she saw Muggle Paper – of different colours.

Her heart skipped a beat. Daddy... he was the only one who sent blue and pink paper... to cheer her up...

Mr. Granger was currently fighting for the Muggle British in the Iraqi war. She had only seen him at the beginning of last summer – the summer after fourth year. She had not seen her father in ten months – and she had only received four letters in that time. Being a war-medical officer was not a good job for a dentist... but Mr. Granger had proudly declared that he would do anything for his country.

But the sheets were typed – they couldn't be from her father...

By the time Hermione Granger had finished reading the sheets of paper – she had tears in her eyes. She could win her hearts desire – for the Muggle Iraqi War to stop... for her beloved Daddy to come home...

And her worst fear? Well there were two... number one was for her family and two best friends to be killed, and number two was failing Hogwarts.

_NAME_: HERMIONE ANNE GRANGER

_AGE_: (TURNING SEVENTEEN ON THE 7TH OF JULY)

_OCCUPATION_: STUDENT AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

_SEX:_ FEMALE

_CITY_: NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND.

_WORST FEARS_: MY FAMILY AND HARRY POTTER AND RON TO BE KILLED; FAILING SCHOOL...

_HEART'S DESIRE_: FOR THE IRAQI WAR TO END, FOR BENEDICT GRANGER TO COME HOME FROM THE WAR.

_PARENTS_:  BENEDICT AND JENNIFER GRANGER

_GUARDIANS (IF NOT PARENTS_): N/A

_BIRTHDATE_:  JULY 7TH 2004.

_SIBLINGS_: NONE. 

_PHONE NUMBER_: HOME: 737-1137

_MEDICAL CONDITIONS_: NONE.

    ------              -------        

**_MUGGLE – BOBBY TELEKOL _**

****

A week before the first day of _Timeline _, Bobby Telekol was sitting on his couch. He was lazily switching the channels... and he stopped at a preview of Timeline. There was a creak heard from the ceiling, but Bobby ignored it. The apartment creaked all the time. Two minutes later, Bobby remembered that he still had to close up his wife's shop. Sally was at her shop right now, but he'd promised to come help her before eight.

Groaning, he put on his leather jacket, and yawned. His Toyota reached the shop in a minute.

But there were already some people in it. And Bobby Telekol suddenly didn't want to go in anymore. There were green lights flashing in the shop – and sudden _screams._

            Bobby, a quick thinker at heart, quietly got out a video camera from the car's trunk, and hid behind a garbage can. There were voices.

            "A great catch my Lord."

            "Yes, my Lord, did you see that Muggle girl's face. When she saw us..."

            "Yes Wormtail. Lucius... do you think that was a _great catch_?"

            "Uh... well..."

            "We had killed thousands fifteen years ago... and now you start celebrating when we have killed three."

            "No, Master--"

            "Crucio!"

            The Malfoy writhed on the floor... and the other man left him there for a minute.

            "Lucius. Do not fill yourself with puny ideas of making fun of Muggles. We shall kill a countless number of them, hundreds at a time. And after the event in July, it'll be _better_ than the old days. Do you hear me Lucius? _Better. _Brace yourself, wizarding world. Lord Voldemort is back..."

Bobby Telekol didn't read fiction. He firmly believed that true knowledge was the only thing worth reading. Unlike his twelve and sixteen year old daughters, he had never read a 'Harry Potter' or a 'Lord of the Rings' book in his life. But what he had just experienced – it sounded just like a fiction book.

            He had hurried in the shop, and found three customers dead by the milk stand, and his wife hiding behind the fence with no shoes on. Then, the couple had phoned 911, and gone home. They had sat in rocking chairs, silently staring at the fire, while their daughters read Harry Potter Number Five, and Lord of the Rings Number Three.

            Later, they decided that their daughters should go to sleep, so they had attempted to take away the books.

            When told, the sixteen year old put away her Lord Of The Rings book, stating that it bored her anyways. But the other daughter...

            "But daaaad!"

            "No buts. You have school tomorrow!"

            "But I'm almost done! Harry's just met Lucius at the Department of Mysteries!"

            "That's nice." Sarcasm was evident, but apparently Laurie didn't catch it. Of course the name Lucius was chillingly familiar... but he ignored it.

            "Yes, and Cassi said he's going to meet Voldemort soon!"

            His hand was on the light, and suddenly he froze. "Who?"

            "Voldemort. He's the evilest wizard who likes to kill Muggles and who wants to kill Harry!"

            "Muggles?" Another very familiar word.

            "Non-magic people!"

            "Does he... kill a lot?"

            "He killed some people in this book. But he killed thousands fifteen years ago."

            "Aah. Good night Laurie." He had to read that book... he had to...

            "Can't I read for just one more minute?"

            He smiled sadly and took the book from her hands. "No, you can finish it tomorrow..."

            He walked to his own room, and started reading.

"It was a hot summer day..."

He finished the book in eight hours. Sleep had been ignored. He could not believe that this book... written by this J.K Rowling was actually _true._

He needed to inform somebody about the Muggle slaying the day before... He needed to inform a wizard...

Number 4 Privet drive... where was that? Didn't the street a couple of blocks away... was the name Privet? He got out the Toyota, brought his video camera and tape with him, and sped away.

Two minutes later, he was staring at the Dursley house. It really did have a nice lawn... and the flower bed was well kept as well.

He rang the bell. A skinny rather bony sort of person opened the door.

"Yes?" Her eyes were narrowed. He realized that if this were indeed the Dursleys, Petunia Dursley would be a very suspicious character. He smiled cheerfully.

"Petunia Dursley?" She nodded. "Oh I'm just stopping by, I live a few blocks away..."

Her eyebrows were raised. "Yes... well, we're conducting a London Government survey on teenage children."

Relief dawned on her face, and Petunia, smiling, let Bobby in.

"Yes we have a boy here."

"Really? What's his name?"

"Dudley Dursley."

"That's strange... the neighbour... Mrs Figg... she said two boys were living here."

"Uhh well... ahh... there is another one. His name is Harry. But he's not worth talking to..."

He grinned cheekily. "Ahh but ma'am, you see, we need to record everybody. It's a government media survey... do you mind if your children go on television?"

"Oh, Harry's not mine... He can't but – Dudley can!"

"Alright then. May I talk to each boy privately?"

"Yes... of course."

Then she lead him to Dudley Dursley's room. The boy, once learning that he would be on television, behaved well... but Bobby knew more about Dudley's attitude from the Potter books. He was finished with the fat boy in five minutes. He nodded politely, and then headed to the room across Dudley's. Harry's room.

Harry Potter was sitting on his bed, staring out the window.

"Good morning. Harry Potter?"

The boy jumped up, startled.

"Thought so. Your parents think I'm doing a sort of London survey... so let's keep it down."

"Uh... okay. Who are you? I don't remember seeing you before." Harry's hand was in his pocket, no doubt reaching for his wand...

"That's because I'm a Muggle!"

"A Muggle who knows about magic?"

"Just about... Listen, I didn't come here for no reason. There's an emergency regarding Voldemort."

The atmosphere grew more tense, and the boy's eyes grew wider. "Let me see your arm first."

Bobby rolled up his sleeve.  Harry noticed the absence of a Dark Mark – and then motioned him to continue. He rewound the video tape, set the camcorder on VCR and pressed Play...

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Mrs. Figg... do you know her?

            "Sure."

            "Well she's got a telephone. We can go to the Headquarters." Harry blankly looked at him. "You'll need an Invisibility Cloak."

            "Err... Of course."

            He passed Bobby a cloak, and headed downstairs. Bobby followed him, with the cloak covering him. Harry savagely told his aunt "I'm going out. The survey guy's already left."

            Without waiting for a reply, he slammed the door, ran to the neighbour's house, and knocked on her door.

            Bobby removed the cloak, and Mrs. Figg opened the door.

            "Can we use your phone? There's been an emergency."

            "Yes of course..."

            Harry dialed some numbers, and Bobby stared at him. He still couldn't believe that he was staring at a boy from a fiction book.

            "Allo Lupin. I have a Muggle with me... could you come down here for a second? Alright thanks."

            Harry stood expectantly at the door, and seconds later, Remus Lupin opened it. He was even more poorly clothed than Bobby had pictured him to be. But the books hadn't mentioned the kind and warm look on the professor's face.

            "Nice to meet you. Bobby Telekol. I'm a Muggle."

            Lupin smiled, but raised his eyebrows. "A Muggle who knows about magic, huh. Well, what's the problem?"

            "Voldemort."

            Lupin's eyes widened, and the atmosphere grew more tense again.

            "What about him?"

            "Something happened last night. In the neighborhood."

            You could hear a pin drop in that silence...

            "In this neighborhood?" Harry whispered.

            "Yes."

            "Well we can't very well discuss it here then," said Lupin grimly.

            "Where should we go?" Then, taking a deep breath, he added: "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place?"

            Harry and Remus, who had been previously looking at each other – stared at Bobby.

            "You read the books."

            "Yes. But I have a question. If Voldemort reads the books, he'll know everything."

            "Exactly. But he can't. The books have a spell on them, whoever's a Death Eater, Voldemort, or even anyone who has the intention to harm the Good... if they read even the first sentence, they'll burst into flames."

            This time, Bobby's eyebrows were raised. "Who cast THAT spell?"

            "It's not a spell... it's a prophecy. We'll give it to you at Grimmauld."

            The reality of it all finally hit Bobby. He had met characters from a fiction book, and he was going to leave his family (for a hopefully short period of time) to go to their headquarters.

            "So, what will we use? Portkey?"

            "Naahh... we'd have to register it with the Ministry."

            "Ahh."

            "We'll take the Floo to around two miles away from the Headquarters."

            Bobby swallowed. "Floo. That's the walking-in-green-flames-thing... right?"

            Harry gave him a sympathetic look. "Don't worry. You'll be fine."

            Two hours later, he had met Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger and ate the famous delicious food of Molly Weasley. Then, with the entire Weasley family (and others) around the dining table, he asked if they could spare a video tape, some cables, and a TV screen.

            All heads pointed to Mr. Weasley, and he proudly stated that he had found all three in a second-hand Muggle store.

            The adults had an Order of Phoenix meeting after that, while Bobby transferred the recording from his camcorder to a video-tape.

            And then, with all thirty Grimmauld residents sitting on couches and mattresses... Bobby gulped, closed his eyes, and pressed Play.

_[Screams]_

_[Silence]_        

            _"A great catch my Lord."_

_            "Yes, my Lord, did you see that Muggle girl's face. When she saw us..."_

_            "Yes Wormtail. Lucius... do you think that was a great catch?"_

_            "Uh... well..."_

_            "We had killed thousands fifteen years ago... and now you start celebrating when we have killed three."_

_            "No, Master--"_

_            "Crucio!" _

_[Male screams]_

_            The Malfoy writhed on the floor... and the other man left him there for a minute. _

_            "Lucius. Do not fill yourself with puny ideas of making fun of Muggles. We shall kill a countless number of them, hundreds at a time. And after thee vent in June, it'll be better than the old days. Do you hear me Lucius? Better. [Evil Laughter]_

_ Brace yourself, wizarding world. Lord Voldemort is back..."_

There was a silence, and the viewers stared at the now-blank screen. It was easy enough to accept that Voldemort was back. But they had forgotten over the course of fifteen years... the return of Voldemort didn't just mean dueling with Death Eaters. The Return of Voldemort meant thousands of deaths of people who didn't even know that Voldemort existed...

**__**

**_Muggle: Dana MiRchevov_**

**__**

"Dana? Dana!"

"Yes Mina?"

"My tummy hurts."

"I know, but the doctor gave some pills... you had them... the stomach ache will clear out in an hour..."

"But it hurts!"

Dana Mirchevov was sixteen years old. She had lost her mother and father, becoming an orphan at 14. At 15, she had dropped out of school to get a job, and to take care of her little sister. She had no time for parties, or boys – as she had to behave like a mother all the time.

Dana was currently on welfare, and worked at three part-time jobs. On Mondays to Fridays, she worked from eight in the morning until one in the afternoon as a GAP salesclerk. In the afternoon, she worked until six at Silver City Movie Theatres. On Saturdays, she worked at the library for ten hours. On Sundays – she was off. Well, not completely off. She had to take care of her eight year old sister – who had a disease that she couldn't even pronounce.

Mina had two tubes sticking out of her stomach, and the doctors had blamed it on her great-grandfather, who had died from that exact disease. The doctors had explained to Dana that they had found a cure – but it hadn't been tested yet. It would be tested in Finland on a group of kids – but it would be years before they gained approval for the cure. Meanwhile, they would give Mina pain relief-pills.

Then, they had quietly told Dana that if no cure was given to Mina, she wouldn't live to see her teen years.

Dana's heart had started to act like a timer, an alarm clock evilly counting down the seconds until Mina, beloved innocent Mina – would die.

Dana sat down on a wooden chair and looked into a crooked mirror. She did not know that she could be beautiful; as she had thought all of beauty and society activities irrelevant when Mina's disease had begun. She was mature beyond belief – she did the laundry, cooked, and bought supplies with her own pocket-money.

Today was Sunday, so Mrs. Tilia was out. Mrs. Tilia had kindly offered to take care of Mina while Dana was at work.

Reading the newspaper was about the only source to knowledge Dana had of extremist activities around the world. She had one best friend – Jane Whitt, but lately, she had started to "shy away" from Jane. Jane had started to wear tight clothes, clothes of a stereotypical teenager. Jane had started offering Dana some of these clothes – but Dana had politely declined.

She usually wore a pear of baggy jeans and a white XL shirt to cover her small frame.

The newspaper...

She opened the door and stuck her hand in the old mailbox.

There was something else besides the old Ottawa Citizen. An envelope... a beige envelope, with coloured sheets peeking out.

A contest? And she was selected out of the millions of sixteen and seventeen year olds in North America and Europe? Perhaps it was a mistake... who would ever choose her?

And all that was irrelevant... how could she join a show when she had to take care of Mina?

But like Malfoy, curiosity took over her. She wouldn't join, sure, but it wouldn't hurt to just look at that pink paper. And as the orphan read the crisp pink paper, her heart skipped a beat.

One million dollars. And her heart's desire.

No more welfare. No more poor jobs at $7.50 an hour. One million dollars.... she could own a mansion!

And her heart's desire... there was a group of people who would be first tested with the cure of Mina's disease... if Mina could be part of that Finland group...

She laughed.

Hope was on the way...

_NAME_: DANA MILCHEVOV

_AGE_: 16

_OCCUPATIONS_: GAP SALESCLERK, WORKER AT SILVER CITY AND AT THE OTTAWA PUBLIC LIBRARY.

_SEX_: FEMALE

_CITY_: OTTAWA, CANADA.

_WORST FEARS_: FOR ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO MINA

_HEART'S DESIRE_: FOR MINA TO BE ACCEPTED IN THE FINLAND TEST GROUP FOR HER DISEASE.

_PARENTS_: KRISTINA AND DEREK MILCHEVOV (BOTH DECEASED)

_GUARDIANS_ (IF NOT PARENTS): ?

_BIRTHDATE_: SEPTEMBER 1ST 1987

_SIBILINGS_: (SISTER) MINA MILCHEVOV

_PHONE NUMBER_: 737-1111

_MEDICAL CONDITIONS_: NONE

The date of the first Timeline show day grew closer. The contestants were mailed New York plane tickets. Each of them looked at the upcoming date with anxiety and excitement. None of them (with the exception of Harry and Ron) knew who any of the other contestants were.

Hermione Granger had puzzled over Ron and Harry's sudden broken relationship; they spent all their time glaring at teach other. Meanwhile, Hermione was very proud that _she _had been accepted in the contest – from half the globe.

She wondered who the other contestants were, and assumed that she was probably the only one from Great Britain.

The contestants were supposed to report to the contestant box on the day before the first show. They were each greeted separately, by eager Muggle Timeline staff.

Bobby Telekol, a London Muggle reporter, declared that magic was real on CNN. He had starred on the news program with Remus Lupin and Mad-Eye Moody, to announce that Voldemort was real, and to tell the Muggle Public to watch their back.

Draco Malfoy winced when a Muggle told him that he'd have to go through 'tests'. He was not a coward, but he preferred the Muggle Healers. He accepted his choker-cam: a personal video camera worn on the neck like a choker necklace – solemnly, while silently marveling how 'idiotic filth' could come up with these genius ideas.

Harry Potter went through the tests impatiently; he knew that they had to check for the absences of diseases and drugs – but he seemed to think that the quicker he tapped his foot – the quicker he'd defeat Voldemort.

The other contestants all accepted their positions differently. But all of them were excited for the contest to begin....

_A/N: Told you it'd be long ;).The other ones won't be nearly as long as this one though. _


	3. II: The First Meeting

            The crowd was getting restless. They had been sitting in the stadium seats for what seemed like two hours. They entertained themselves by staring at the program brochure of the Timeline show, while wondering who the contestants were.

            Those who were not pondering over the choice of contestants, were thinking about a completely unrelated topic – the interview with Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, and Bob Telekol. The interview had taken place yesterday morning. By the afternoon, every large book-store in New York City, Ottawa, Washington and Toronto had sold out all of their remaining Harry Potter books in stock.

            Harry Potter Fan sites encountered a sudden enormous flood of joining members – and every site had chat rooms – where the thousands of new Muggles would discuss the reality of magic.

            Many shopping malls and theatres had closed, and President George Bush and Prime Minister Paul Martin officially named July Tenth – International Magic Day.

            In London, the news brought screaming fans into Kings Cross, and various attempts at crashing through the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. At Privet Drive, the unfortunate Dursleys locked their house in terror, as Muggles pounded on their chestnut door. Several Muggles had the idea of bringing a rope, and somehow attempted to attach it to the windows and climb up – so they could crawl through the window.

            Vernon Dursley, in panic, threatened to cut any ropes with his brand new hedge-cutters. After an hour, the 'severely-angered' Dursleys resorted to the basement – where they decided they would not receive any disturbances from the hundreds of 'freaks'.

            The proceeding of Timeline, amazingly, had not been cancelled due to yesterday's events.

            The Timeline stadium had costed the producer millions of dollars – but looking at it now, it was well worth it. It was an indoor stadium, with a ceiling full of enormous revolving lights and enough room for the fifty thousand Muggle-audience to sit comfortably side by side, around the arena.

The entire stadium was built like a hockey arena, with the enormous audience sitting in their respective seats. However the front row of the audience was not at level with the audience itself.

Instead, the entire audience would look down at the contestants. Below the audience, but around the circumference of the arena were twelve large doors, which could slide up and down.

Each contestant was standing behind each of the twelve soundproof doors. They were given the impression that they were in some sort of pitch black broom cupboard, with barely any room to move in.

When the doors would open, the producers of the show hoped that the contestants would be a little shocked, in seeing the sudden open stadium.

The audience had been informed that the show would start at noon. Sure enough, at exactly 12:00 PM, a loud gong resounded throughout the stadium.

This was followed by the American national anthem... and then –

_"GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AND WELCOMETO THE FIRST SHOWING OF TIMELINE!"___

_"AND NOW HERE ARE YOUR CONTESTANTS FOR THE BIGGEST REALITY SHOW OF 2004!"_

By now, the entire audience was screaming and cheering themselves hoarse.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER ONE IS A HANDSOME BLONDE HAIRED SIXTEEN YEAR OLD FROM PARIS, FRANCE – WHO WANTS TO GO INTO BUSINESS LIKE HIS FATHER! PLEASE GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR.... **ALPHONSE PERCIVAL LABRIE!"**

One of the doors opened, and a dazed boy stood, his eyes squinting at the sudden exposure to bright light. Most of the cheers slightly diminished in volume, but the thunderous clapping still remained present.

Alphonse Percival Labrie looked just like his name – a boy with a large delicate plump face, and a body shaped like two snowballs laid on top of each other, with a small skinny face poking out of them. Te boy took a few steps, and the door closed behind him. Then, uncertain of what to do next, he waited.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER TWO IS A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD WITCH ATTENDING HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY!"

The audience gasped. Could it be that one of their heroes was standing less than a hundred feet away, separated by a mere door?

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE WELCOME... **HERMIONE GRANGER!"******

The entire audience rose to their feet and screamed with pleasure, as the door next to Alphonse's slowly opened. Hermione walked away from her door with an enormous proud smile on her face.

It took five full minutes to calm the audience down, and when half of them finally stopped screaming, the announcer continued.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER THREE IS A WORKING SIXTEEN YEAR OLD FROM OTTAWA, CANADA! PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR... **DANA MIRCHEVOV!"**

Dana had been standing in what looked like a broom cupboard in silence for half an hour. She had decided that perhaps, this was some sort of test by the doctors, to see if any of them were claustrophobic.

She had been daydreaming in silence about Mina's cure – when suddenly, the wooden surface which had felt like a wall – started to move. She stood, a little openmouthed, as she watched the thousands of onlookers chant her name... _Daaana__! Daaaana Daaaana!_

She had never _ever _received this much attention in her life. She took her place next to a girl with brown pretty and thick hair.

The girl grinned at her, and she weakly smiled back. The girl's smile had been warm and friendly, and it encouraged Dana to say something.

"Hi! Er... did anyone tell you that you look like a seventeen year old Hermione Granger?"

She had meant it as a joke, but she realized that her sense of humour had been seriously injured – due to her 'jangling' nerves at standing in front of fifty thousand people. The girl, however, found the lame joke extremely funny, and she burst out laughing.

"Well... anyways. Dana Milchevov, nice to meet you."

She held out her hand. "Hermione Granger."

Dana laughed. "What's your real name?"

"Hermione Granger. Look," she pointed to the huge screen behind Dana, where the words: 'CONTESTANT NUMBER THREE: DANA MILCHEVOV" were still flashing. At the bottom of the screen were two names – the names of the contestants who had already appeared. Contestant Number Two – Hermione Granger.

"Didn't you see the news last night? We all exist."

She had watched the news with Mrs. Filia... but standing with somebody she had believed to be fiction until less than twenty-four hours ago was still disturbing.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER FOUR IS A DASHING BLOND SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD FROM HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY!"

The crowd erupted again, and Dana turned to look at Hermione Granger, whose eyes had suddenly popped out in shock –

"Noo...." muttered Hermione. "Not--"

**"DRACO MALFOY!" **

The entire audience leapt to their feet and screamed with delight. Only a few onlookers remembered that Draco Malfoy – although quite handsome – was notorious for his hatred of Muggles. The rest of the audience completely ignored this fact.

Joanne Rowling had told the press long ago that too many readers were _too _obsessed with Malfoy. Looking at the screaming crowd of fifty thousand, it was obvious that she had been telling the truth.

Poor Draco didn't know whether to be horrified in being surrounded by fifty thousand beings of  what his father called 'Muggle filth' or to grin at all this attention.

However, remembering that the Muggles voted off contestants and essentially decided the winners – he realized that if the Muggles knew that he subconsciously thought them as 'filth' – he would be the first to lose the contest.

Besides, the attention he was receiving was _quite_ flattering. So, he gave the audience a huge smile and wave, and then walked to the 'contestants row'.

There, he saw a plump boy who reminded him of a blond Longbottom, a black haired girl, and... no it couldn't be!

What was the Mudblood doing here?

Granger certainly didn't look very happy to see him. On the contrary, her face was completely pale. The others were looking at him with a faint sense of curiosity.

"Hey Mud... err... Granger, what are you doing here?"

Hermione noticed his 'change of wording' immediately. She of course, was furious at the fact that they boy dared to almost use the word 'Mudblood' – when he had willingly signed up for a Muggle contest.

She knew exactly why Draco had changed 'Mudblood' to 'Granger', and she also now knew why Malfoy had been looking for a book on Muggle Currency. He probably hadn't used the word 'dollar' in his life – let alone know what 'one million dollars' were.

Instead of replying to Malfoy's comment, she only glared at him. Besides, the next contestants would be announced in a minute.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER FIVE IS A SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD ALL-STAR FOOTBALL PLAYER IN RALEIGH, MICHAGAN! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LET'S HEAR IT FOR **J.C... FINN!"**

The crowd gave another burst of applause, as a burly seventeen year old appeared behind the fifth door. He was quite handsome, in a rugged point of view. He wore a half smile, which Dana noticed, did not reach to his eyes. His eyes didn't look mean – they looked empty of emotion. Dana shivered, as the eyes mad contact with hers for a few seconds, and then moved on to Hermione and Alphonse.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER SIX IS A BEAUTIFUL BLONDE ATTENDING HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY!"

The crowd was going wild again. Draco's eyes met with Hermione's – and for once, they weren't glaring at each other. Their faces displayed the same emotion – shock.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE WELCOME **LUNA LOVEGOOD**!"

"_Luna! Luna! Luna!" _the crowd screamed, as the next door opened. Like Hermione, Luna gave a shy smile to the audience, expressed her shock at seeing Hermione and Draco, and stood next to Finn.

The next contestants included a beautiful model from New York City – named Renée Spears – who was rumored to be related to Britney Spears, a shy 'self described computer nerd' named Cody, and a twinkling-eyed brown haired boy with a mischievous grin – named Joshua Helmer.

And then...

"CONTESTANT NUMBER TEN IS A FIERY SIXTEEN YEAR OLD WITCH ATTENDING HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY."

Hermione, Luna, and Malfoy choked, while the crowd cheered wildly once more.

"PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR... **GINNY WEASLEY**!"

 The 'fiery redhead' walked out the contestants row, and exclaimed her shock upon seeing Draco, Luna and Hermione. She hugged the last two witches, and waited.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER ELEVEN IS ANOTHER GOOD LOOKING RED-HEAD ATTENDING HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY! LET'S HAVE IT FOR **RON WEASLEY!**"

The door opened to a confident but grin Ron Weasley, who only lost his expression of absolute determination when he saw his best friend and sister.

            "Her-Hermione? G-Ginny? What are you doing here?"

"We're contestants Ron! Oh I'm so glad you're here!" exclaimed Hermione

"But-but... you didn't tell me!"

"Well you didn't tell us either Ron," said Ginny sensibly.

The two Weasley's had given the excuse to their mothers that they were on a foreign exchange trip.

But Ron had suddenly seen Draco Malfoy.

"_Malfoy__??! "_ his jaw dropped.

"Well if it isn't the Weasel. Tell me Ronniekins, did you have to bribe the judges to get here?" said Draco lazily.

"I wouldn't talk!" Ron snapped. "Look who's enrolled in a _Muggle_contest! What are you, desperate? Who ever heard of a Death Eater Muggle Torturer who enrolls in a Muggle show!"

Draco felt like punching Weasley, but he realized that most of the audience were looking at them. Instead, his eyes grew cold, and his voice became deadly.

"I'm not my father Weasley."

"Not... Not your father?" Ron laughed, yet it was painfully obvious that he didn't find this amusing at all. "Why you—"

"Oh shut up you two."

Ron's mouth fell open.

"Aren't you on my side Hermione?"

"There's no sides in this Ron. There's just an immature idiotic quarrel lead by two little boys."

Draco started smirking, until Hermione added:

"That goes the same for you too Malfoy."

Dana didn't know what to think. Five characters who she had thought were absolute fiction only a day ago – were now quarreling on either side of her. Ron had resorted to glaring at Malfoy, while trying to glare at the brown haired boy (A/N: Remember... the twinkling-eyed boy) – who looked like he was flirting with Ginny.

"CONTESTANT NUMBER TWELVE IS A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD WIZARD ATTENDING HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE GUY WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR... LET'S HEAR IT FOR HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

Draco had suddenly turned green. No it couldn't be.... Weasley was bad enough.

And as the door slowly opened, Draco remembered how many times Potter had smirked at him after catching the snitch in front of his very nose; how many times he'd sniggered after aiming his stupid Firebolt to overtake him, catching the Snitch, and becoming the hero of the day.

He remembered Dumbledore's disdain for himself, and equally remembered the headmaster's obvious favoritism towards the arrogant Potter.

And while he saw the audience, all jumping up and down – and Potter giving a stupid wave, and Hermione and Ron smiling at their hero (Ron had shifted all his previous anger at Harry to Draco)...

He promised, he _swore_ – that whatever happened in this stupid show – Harry Potter would _not_ be the winner.


	4. III: New Discoveries

"Potter."

"Malfoy."

The two enemies glared at each other, each fully aware that the entire audience and the contestants were looking at them as well.

"Father wants you to get to all the Muggles this way?"

Draco glared at him. "Drop dead Potter."

Dana, suddenly aware of the tension of the situation, decided that she needed to say something.

"Look, can't you guys make a truce or something?"

They both looked at her as if she had turned into a Flobberworm.

"Look Mirchevov, you have no idea --"

Dana interrupted the blonde boy. "I know you've been fighting ever since that day on the train but still..."

Malfoy gave a surprised look to Potter.

"How does she –"

"Another time Malfoy. Err... you know you're right uhh..." he eyed the words on her nametag, "...Dana. Truce Malfoy?"

"I'll give you a truce as long as I don't have to shake your filthy hand."

"You b—"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HERE ARE YOUR CONTESTANTS FOR TIMELINE 2004! PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS IMMEDIATELY. THE CONTESTANTS WILL BE ESCORTED OUT OF THE BUILDING TO THEIR HOTEL."

The crowd groaned. Most of them had been planning to swarm the contestants – particularly the ones with magic blood – when the show ended.

But the producers had planned for this. The stadium seats had been designed with special seatbelts, which functioned like amusement park ride bars. They could only be opened remotely from the commentator's box.

Besides, even without the seat belts, there _were_ the one hundred security guards who had been specifically hired to guard the contestants until they were whisked away in limousines...

**_MALFOY MANOR -- NARCISSA MALFOY._**

Narcissa Malfoy was not Albus Dumbledore. She did not have a hidden love for Muggle sweets. She was not the inevitable soon-to-be hero of the Great War Against Voldemort. She was not a genius. But it didn't take her Ravenclaw wit to realize that something was wrong.

Draco had not returned home for three days. She couldn't blame him for running away; he had come home from Hogwarts to meet a very drunk Lucius, who, when given alcohol – was particularly notorious for being extremely abusive.

Much to Narcissa's dismay, the heartless bastard had given her precious Dragon a broken leg and a few fractured ribs.

Narcissa didn't care a bit about Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, or the Weasleys. In fact, there was only one soul who she really _loved _– and that was her Draco.

She had lost her love for Lucius when he had started to commit murders, and abuse Draco.

Not only had Draco run away from her home – but she could have _sworn _that she'd just heard his name being called by an unfamiliar voice.

The strange voice was coming from a shop that she'd never entered in her life, but passed by weekly. Sometimes she looked at the objects on the store's display in curiosity – and other times she never glanced at it – either because she was in a hurry to get to the Leaky Cauldron, or Lucius was with her.

For the shop was a Muggle one, a particularly grand record store located next to the Leaky Cauldron.

Perhaps she had misheard the voice. After all, it could have been coming from the Leaky Cauldron – where the pureblood name "Malfoy" was repeated at least ten or twenty times a day. But a _Muggle_ store? How would any Muggle know of _Draco?_

Ravenclaw or not Ravenclaw, it was completely natural that the wife of Lucius Malfoy would have subconscious Muggle prejudices. And as much as she hated her husband, Narcissa did _not _know that she had indeed, took some of his values to be her own.

For example, she did not sympathize with the Weasleys as she had previously done before she was married. Nevertheless, she did not 'hate' Arthur Weasley – as her husband did – but she _did _consider herself higher than them.

The same thing applied in her view of Muggles. In Narcissa's Hogwarts times, one of her good friends had been Muggle-born. When Mr. and Mrs. Black had found out, they had been quite upset, and forced her to never talk to the Muggleborn again. However, they had found out in sixth year, soon after Cousin Sirius Black had been thrown out of the family, and burnt off the family tree. Thus, Narcissa's parents comforted themselves by thinking:

_"At least she's not as bad as him"_

It was true.

Being sorted in Ravenclaw was second to only Slytherin in her family – not nearly as bad as being sorted in Gryffindor.

Besides, a shy Ravenclaw girl who listened to her parents quietly, and who could be bullied to marry into a nice Slytherin pureblood family, was much more comforting than a fiery Gryffindor boy who swore at his parents constantly, and who went off to live with a blood traitor.

Narcissa entered the store, with a slight frown on her face. There it was again… the name, _Malfoy._There was no mistaking it this time.

She followed the rather annoying loud voice, until she was face-to-face with a … what-do-you-call-it-again… T..V screen?

But there was Draco, giving a faint smile. And surrounding by him, thousands of _Muggles_

_What was he doing?_

"Ya can buy poster if ya want lady! Everywan'll beh wantin' them now."

A Muggle had… had _talked_ to her.

"Pardon?"

"The twelve contests. Ya can buy posters of 'em if you want. They just came out."

"How about Draco?"

"He's a contestant too ain'it?" At Narcissa's silent response, the salesperson sighed, and gave a poster to the blonde.

"Here. That'll be two pounds."

"Uhh… I don't have two… uhh pounds." The salesperson's eyes narrowed

"Well then you can't have it… can ya?"

"Wait!" Narcissa began to take off her diamond necklace. "Is this enough?"

The salesperson blinked, and took a full minute to recover from the lady's generous offer. Worried that she might change her mind (a diamond necklace was definitely worth a lot more than two pounds) the salesperson snatched it from her hands, and gave her the poster

"That's definitely enough. In fact, ye want a book on Timeline too? And any contestant profiles?"

The salesperson did not wait for an answer. She began stuffing books and pamphlets into her hand.

"Thank you very much."

Holding her head up in the air, with her arms full of Muggle pamphlets, Narcissa exited the record store.

CONTESTANT NUMBER TWELVE: HARRY POTTER 

****

Somehow, the twelve contestants managed to crawl into one luxurious limousine – armed with video cameras of course. The crowd, eager to get a better look, abandoned the stadium and dash home to their televisions, not willing to miss even a minute of this new drama.

The limousine was travelling quite slowly, and Harry vaguely wondered what was the problem. He knew that these extravagant Muggle cars could travel up to a hundred fifty kilometres per hour... and he wondered why this particular machine was only traveling at fifteen on a deserted road.

He wasn't terrified however – it was just a slow car. He continued to exchange glares with Draco Malfoy, while trying to smile at a pretty black-haired girl who was nervously biting her lip. He read her nametag. Dana Mirchevov. Such a beautiful name.

For some reason, Harry found that although the introduction of the contest was finished, he was having a hard time settling down. There was something about this contest which made him uneasy, yet he wasn't quite sure what it was. Hermione seemed to be feeling it too, he noticed. She couldn't stop fidgeting in her seat.

Calm down he told himself with a sigh. If the contest was based on each contestant's popularity with the audience – he would have a good chance of winning it. And if he won the contest, he would get his heart's desire. And if he got his heart's desire… well, nothing would be more pleasing than the death of Lord Voldemort. 

Sighing once more, Harry ended his mute staring contest with Draco (the git was naturally good at that sort of thing) and turned to gaze at the floor.

That was when he saw the skulls.

**_CONTESTANT NUMBER FOUR: DRACO MALFOY: _**

Draco Malfoy was happy. Not only was he miles away from his malicious father, he was also sitting in an extremely luxurious vehicle which would presumably take him to an equally luxurious hotel.

In addition to this, he had just won a miniature staring-contest with his arch-enemy which although a small triumph, was still enough to keep him happy.

True, he was surrounded by Muggles, but at least they weren't _sitting _next to him. He saw Potter making eyes at a brown-haired girl and mentally groaned. Sure, the girl was rather pretty, but she was a Muggle for Slytherin's sake! She was, obviously, a nimwit!

Draco's trademark smirk lessened slightly when he realized that the vehicle was slowing down. The others were looking around, also puzzled, and Potter was the only one not looking out of the window. He was staring at the floor, with a pale expression on his face. _Must be carsick or something, _Draco snickered.

But looking closely, the car did not appear to be near any glamorous hotel. It was slowing down near a sort of deep forest. Granger voiced the concern.

"I wonder why it's slowing down?" She bit her lip and waited, while the car came to a complete stop. The puzzled mudblood touched a black switch, which lowered the black glass separator between driver and passengers.

The group gasped as one. There was nobody at the steering wheel.

"What now?" asked Alpho-something-or-other. He was shaking. Typical Muggle.

"Uhhh…" Potter graced the contestants with a fabulous _syllable_. Draco rolled his eyes and smirked. His smirk disappeared when he heard Potter speak once more.

"Uhh… I hate to say this everyone, but there's kind of two human skulls underneath my seat."

(A/N: very small cliff-hanger :P )

Draco's eyebrows went up, and Alphonse-whats-his-name finally burst out crying. Malfoy was not horrified; he had seen skulls before. Lucius Malfoy had developed a nasty habit of saving the decomposing bodies of his Muggle victims as items of _amusement_.

He was mildly surprised, but that surprise turned into severe alarm when he thought he saw a familiar engraving on the peeking skull.

No… it couldn't be…

He could barely see the skull, as it was underneath Potter's seat. But that engraving…

"Give it here Potter." He spoke softly, his heart pounding in fear.

"What? You want me to… I'm not touching--"

"Scared _Potty?_"

"No of course not!" Malfoy snorted despite his dry throat and lips, and Potter gingerly gave him one of the skulls.

Malfoy swallowed, as he recognized the small black and green carving at the side of the skull.

"Fuck." he muttered in despair.

It was the Dark Mark.

**_CONTESTANT NUMBER TWO: HERMIONE GRANGER_**

_Voldemort's sign, right in the middle of a Muggle contest stretch limousine_. _Could it possibly be a coincidence? Highly unlikely. _

_But then, if it wasn't a coincidence, then --._ Hermione shivered, and turned pale. She had known that something was dreadfully wrong with this contest ever since the contestants had been introduced to the audience. However, at the time of the introductions, she had ignored her gut feeling as a result of her blinding desire to win the contest for Daddy. Later, she had thought of the feeling once more, she had not been able to put her finger on what was bothering her.

Now, with Malfoy and Harry's discovery of the Dark-Marked skull, she finally knew exactly what was wrong.

Six Hogwarts students had been selected out of the twelve contestants, in a contest that was supposed to be _international_.

_Six._

And _five_ of them belonged to Dumbledore's Army. The same five had appeared at the Ministry of Magic, to thwart Voldemort in his ultimate goal in obtaining the prophecy.

Surely Voldemort was angry at the five of them: Harry, Ron, Luna, Ginny and finally, herself? No doubt... he desired for revenge? And what a perfect revenge could take place in a so-called Muggle contest, where all six wizarding contestants would be... wandless?

Wandless witches and wizards were even more helpless than Muggles because they, throughout their lives, had depended solely on their wands for defence. Muggles knew karate, martial arts, and boxing while magical folk knew no other means of defence.

There was only one flaw in her theory about Voldemort's involvement, and that was Malfoy. Malfoy had always appeared to be a steadfast follower of the dark side. So why was he here? Why had Voldemort sent him a letter, when Malfoy was obviously a soon-to-be Death Eater?

Why hadn't Neville Longbottom replaced Malfoy? Then the Dark Lord could have revenge on all six intruders of his plan. Why Malfoy?

Malfoy certainly was not looking very calm now. In fact, he like the rest of the contestants, had a look of terror in his eyes. For some reason however, although his other body language seemed impassive, his eyes showed even more terror than some of the Muggles. Hermione's mind was whizzing as fast as her beating heart. She was scared, downright terrified, but unlike some of the others, she found it less useful to panic.

Alphonse Percival Labrie, for example, was now bawling. The others seemed to be less 'panicky', yet still extremely frightened. Ginny Weasley for example, who had been quite happy exchanging suggesting smiles with the _handsome_ Joshua Helmer, was now shaking.

Luna Lovegood, who had been muttering "Weasley is our King" under her breath with her trademark dreamy smile for the past five minutes, was now sharp and alert.

"Better outside than inside."

"Why?"

"They know exactly where we are right now. We're sitting ducks--"

Harry was interrupted by a loud noise coming from the interior of the forest. It resembled a deafening fire alarm in its intensity and bluntness, and it caused many of the contestants to gasp in surprise. The contestants took a deep breath, looked at each other and nodded. Each of them got out of the car with a hard-blazing look combined with an appearance of fear.

Alphonse Labrie… or rather the snowman was bawling incessantly and Ginny Weasley had a strong urge to perform a silencing spell on him. They were all scared, they were all tired. But nobody was blubbering like Mr. Al-Foncy.

Harry Potter, who had been observing Dana Mirchevov in the corner of his eye an hour ago was now extremely worried and alert. He alone knew of the prophecy and what being defenceless in front of Voldemort could really mean for the entire wizarding world.

Ten minutes later, each of the contestants were silently thinking about their family and friends left back at home as they walked still onwards through the forest. Alphonse had even stopped crying. Before long, the twelve teenagers reached the end of the wooded area and suddenly gave a collective gasp.

Where an abandoned rural continuation of rocks, trees and grass should have been -- there was instead a sophisticated little village with buildings formed with a complex nature…the most odd of all a structure which had the name "Round Building" engraved on it.

"Isn't much for names isn't it?" muttered Joshua Helmer, and the contestants laughed nervously.

Helmer was right. The name suited the building in a logical manner, as the key feature of the one-story structure was its… roundness. The building was made out like a flat stone cylinder with only one single stone door facing the forest. One thing was for certain, however. The alarm, never ceasing in its loudness or intensity, was coming from the stone building.

The door opened and every contestant – led by Potter in the front and Malfoy in the back – entered the building.

_ A/N: Just getting into it... fun fun fun! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW… this IS one of my first fics by the way. For anybody who doesn't want to wait for each chapter, go buy 24/7 by Jim Brown from the library, the plot basically follows that story, except WITH magic. I'm thinking of making this fic big, I'm carried away with the story! _


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